Featured Articles: 2010

"The only way you can endure your pain is to let it be painful."
"Though it may seem that rationality is stable and emotion is unstable, the reverse is the truth. Deep emotion is much more stable than is rationality."
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I was reading a piece by Thich Nhat Hahn about emptiness, which got me thinking about being filled up, which got me thinking about a gas station just on the Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge. (Occasionally there is...

Looking over the comments analyzing the impact of IDP's new "This Body Will Be A Corpse" T-shirt, the overriding concern of many revolves around its alleged ostentatious presentation that may very well inflict more damage on others...

Over the years, I’ve found it increasingly frustrating that Yoga is continually reduced to “a body practice” and Buddhism “a mind practice.” This makes no sense at all. Anyone who has practiced deeply in both...

IDP Board member and blogger Jon Rubinstein forwarded this fascinating article to me, Morals Without God from the NY Times. It reminds me of the position of Sam Harris, wondering if it is possible to develop human ethics and wholesome...

Yesterday, IDP released a new and somewhat controversial T-shirt based upon the Four Reminders of (Meditation) Practice. Emblazoned across the front in bold white lettering, THIS BODY WILL BE A CORPSE’s all capitals message greets any...

Take a 2,600-year-old spiritual tradition from Asia and drop it into the blender of postmodern American consumer culture. Add science and multiculturalism to taste, and mix at Internet speed. This is 21st-Century Buddhism -- a weekly blog for the...

Are you going to the Rally to Restore Sanity? I don't think Jon Stewart is reading Chogyam Trungpa, but it does seem to be a big event. Relatedly, have you read Malcolm Gladwell's New Yorker article on the illusion that social media can...

by IDP member Sarah Cooke
Okay, so here’s the buzz on a major recent development in my life. In July, I completed my MFA in Creative Writing, focusing mainly in poetry. My degree is from Naropa University, an amazing...

Many people look to Siddhartha Gautama as an example of someone who attained nirvana, a buddha. Every other week in this column we look at what it might be like if Siddhartha were on his spiritual journey today. How would he combine Buddhism and...

"A smile is compassionate action. Yelling at some ass-wipe to knock it off can also be an expression of compassion. Both kinds of compassionate action take a lot of care. A smile at the wrong time can be as devastating as a fist in the face...

According to a recent post, winning is for losers. So what do I mean, "the dharma books are winning"?
They are winning the battle for space in my apartment and on my bookshelves, that's certain. I gazed hopelessly at my piles of...

A few years ago an essay was published entitled On Bullshit, by Princeton philosophy professor Harry G. Frankfurt, which does a splendid job elucidating the particular qualities of bullshit. The distinguishing characteristic of bullshit,...

I just recently found out about a brilliant upcoming lecture series at the Rubin Museum of Art on Talk About Nothing featuring the illustrious likes of Laurie Anderson, Bill Viola and Karen Armstrong. Not a tad bit ironically, its producer, Tim...

I'm reading Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's a pretty compelling and personal look from a highly successful young novelist at the ethical choices he makes with regards to non-human sentient beings. Lisa Simpson, by the way,...

This week I've come down with the flu. Not the sniffle sniffle, sneeze, sneeze flu -- but rather the kind of flu that just makes you feel tired and wobbly whenever you try to move. The prescription from doctors and friends...eat...

This week's podcast features a guest lecture by Robert Chodo Campbell titled "Empowered Generosity."
Robert Chodo Campbell, is a Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. He serves on...

Daily Quote:
"I always thought that if I kept searching and exploring, I'd discover who I truly was," said Speth from his Wrigleyville efficiency. "Well, I looked deep into the innermost recesses of my soul, I plumbed the...